SOMETHING WICKED

3.5 stars out of 5


I'm a fan of this author's books, so of course I was eager to try this one, the debut of a new series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter. It fell a bit short of my expectations for several reasons - perhaps the most important one being that I never quite warmed up to Hunter or his quirky assistant, Jenny. Almost every page of the way, it seemed to me that the author was simply trying too hard to get readers interested in both the characters and the plot while I, on the other hand, am in the camp that says if you want to get someone's attention, whisper.

The same is true for the humor that's interspersed throughout; some of it elicited mild chuckles and some fell flat. As always, though, I thoroughly enjoy the British take on things (the setting here is Manchester, England). At one point, for instance, Andrew calls the female voice on his GPS unit a "mardy cow" (which, BTW, I'm planning to retort next time the bloody woman in my GPS spits "recalculating" at me - take that, you hussy)! In another situation, Andrew describes the entry to a college dorm "only marginally more compromised than Britain's border control."

The story itself begins as Andrew and Jenny are working for a woman who's sure her husband is cheating. Shortly thereafter, a man named Richard Carr comes to the office, asking them to take on the case of his son, Nicholas, who disappeared around a year earlier just after he turned 18. Complicating matters is that three chopped-off fingers turned up in a woods have been identified as at one time being attached to Nicholas, but the rest of the kid is nowhere to be found.

Other suspicious deaths and other clues lead to other friends of Nicholas, and a mysterious tattoo arouses suspicions of the occult. For more clarification, Nicholas turns to his ex-wife Keira, with whom he has remained in love for the past eight years despite his being the one to pull the plug on the relationship (hmmm, what's up with that)? Apparently, he has no choice; the investigation otherwise is at a dead end and conveniently, she wrote university papers on the subject of witchcraft and thus is as close to an expert as Andrew thinks he can get.

Details, twists and turns of the investigation are well thought out, although a bit hard to believe in spots. As for the lead characters, I'm hoping the next book will find Andrew a bit less dorky and Jenny a bit more conventional. They do counterbalance each other's personalities well and I hope that continues - just a little toned down, if you please.

Overall, definitely worth a read - especially for those like me who are always on the lookout for a solid new series (I'm of the opinion that better things are to come). Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Something Wicked by Kerry Wilkinson (Bookouture, October 2018); 334 pp.